ARRL DX Contest, CW - 2019
Call: N8II
Operator(s): N8II
Station: N8II
Class: SOAB LP
QTH: WV
Operating Time (hrs): 25.3
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
-------------------
160: 55 40
80: 144 53
40: 247 74
20: 920 97
15: 246 74
10: 6 5
-------------------
Total: 1618 343 Total Score = 1,664,992
Club: Potomac Valley Radio Club
Comments:
Congrats to Ted, N9NB and N4TZ/9 for some great LP scores. My station is very
limited on 160-40 and I have line noise on 80/160 too boot. I will try a low
cost improvement on 40 when WX improves. Right now, my best 40M antenna into EU
is an 80M dipole at 66 ft, so running is quite a challenge. The 40M quad loop is
coming down, just too low to be effective for DX. I made a mistake, based on
usual conditions to not try 40 early on Sunday; that cost some points, as the
band opened quite early compared to normal. For about 30 minutes Sunday evening
around sunset, I actually was able to get calls from 3rd tier EU stations (LP to
VT/wires). Fatigue has been an issue as of late, so between house duties and a
bit worse than usual fatigue at times, my operating time was too short to be
competitive.
The low bands were pretty exceptional compared to observed norms, but I did
notice improvements on 40 and 80 this past week compared to the miserable condx
in Dec/Jan. You know 160 is good when you tune across the band and about 15 or
so W/VE stations are calling CQ. I never was bold enough to try, but very
pleased with the 40 countries (far above expectations!). The best conditions on
40-160 were the last hours Sunday. Several EU stations I had already worked on
160 were much louder than when I worked them the prior 2 evenings (MI0/PA0/9A1),
and I found 3-4 new mults. The big gun EU's on 80 were booming in both Saturday
and Sunday evening, much louder than either leg of the CQWW. And, there was the
added benefit that EU stations can't work EU. About the rarest DX worked on low
bands was 4U1ITU and V51 on 40. I heard 4X6 several times CQ'ing as loud as
about S8, but no copy from him; others were disappointed also. The ironic thing
is I think the same station called me on 15 and he was in the noise.
20 was good to EU, but my runs ended earlier by far than the big guns. The
number of Russian callers was amazing, total worked was 81 EU Russians and 7
UA9's, one 0. Many QRP and LP stations had very good signals, but the trend
towards HP seems to be increasing. Both days there was long path into the
Pacific mid afternoon, rarest catch was FK8. Sunday, signals went way down by
17Z, but some lingered from south central and SW EU well into the afternoon.
Activity was very good on 20 partly due to limited prop on 15/10.
For the 3rd major DX test in a row, 15 amazingly opened to northern EU Sunday
across the entire continent from LA to UA1/2/3. 8 Swedish stations called in and
OH/OZ/LY and YL went in to my log. At 1338Z Sunday when I first checked, 15 was
wide open to western EU and I had a good run going until 1421Z, but had to move
once as QRM moved in. After 1435, condx dropped, but was still able to S&P
some more EU, mostly western. 15 also opened later in the morning Saturday with
about 40 EU logged. Certain spots in the northern Caribbean around 1915Z Sunday
were quite loud such as CM,HI3, C6, and VP5 while others nearby like KP4/2 were
very weak, some Es?
10 was down from last year with only very marginal signals from the south on
Saturday. There was a strange spotlight opening to ZF1A Saturday earning me my
only station worked on all 6 bands. The good news is there were many worked on 4
or 5 bands thanks to the good low band conditions.
Thanks for all of the calls and Q's. Please do not call during a QSO or just
dump in a call when I am not ready for the next caller. I probably lost about 10
Q's due to QRM during the exchange and more because stations would not stop
calling and listen. Most of the time at most 2-4 stations would call at once.
When it goes up to 6 or more, it gets difficult enough to pick out a call.
Calling slightly high or low really helps separate out stations.
73, Jeff N8II
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